Essay On Cancer-Fighting Viruses

In the article “Are Viruses Alive?,” Luis P. Villarreal discusses the effects of viruses on life, while presenting different angles as to whether or not they are alive themselves and arguing about the impact viruses have had on evolution. Through a deeper understanding of viruses and their functions, the scientific community may come to fully appreciate viruses, whether they are living or non-living in themselves, as significant evolutionary components.

Throughout life, many individuals experience difficulties due to growing up in everyday life. While going in depth of the human life, it is discovered that there are many diseases and disorders that affect humans’ everyday functions. A very popular disease that has traumatically affected the human body is cancer. Cancer is a disease that spreads throughout your body in many ways. The purpose of cancer is to attach to a blood cell in your body and cause a plague within itself, causing the body to initially shut down and die. This disease contains many forms and have many causes to it. However its main goal is to destroy the human body.

There were three trial phases that had to be completed. The first phase was to inject the Onyx-015 at the tumor site with a low dosage to see how the body responds and to observe the side effects. The results stated that patients had flulike symptoms including fevers, nausea and other effects. The main conclusion from the first phase trial was that the Onyx-015 virus did not have a big affect on the injected tumor. Only 5 of the 22 patients had a response to the tumor with the low dosage of the virus [13].

Nipah virus, Arena Virus and Francisella tularensis are bioterrorism agents. They work in various ways to harm the host. Francisella tularenis is considered a Tier 1 bioterrorism agent and Nipah virus is an overlap select agent that affects humans and agriculture both. They have been harmful in the past. Though, Nipah virus is a newer virus than the other two. This review will focus on their emergence, pathogenicity and symptoms of the diseases they cause.

This article covers the Seneca Valley Virus (SVV-001) as a hopeful for an oncolytic treatment of certain cancer types. More specifically those with neuroendocrine properties such as rhabdomyosarcoma, Wilms tumor, glioblastoma, neuroblastoma, and adult small-cell lung cancer. Each of which effect smooth/skeletal muscle cells, kidneys/adrenal glands (mainly in children), astrocytes of the brain, nerve cells of a fetus, and lung cells in adults respectively. The virus was discovered by accident in a contaminated cell culture that contained bovine serum to promote growth. The virus was later discovered to be almost exclusively found in farm animals such as cows and pigs, due to the presence of neutralizing antibodies that were later to only ever have been found in one human sample. Just as important as that, the virus only targets the cells of the above-mentioned cancers/tumors, is a self-replicating RNA virus, and its inability to infect other cells in the body all come together to result in the lysis of these specific cancer cells. These properties alone give great hope for SVV-001 as a treatment for those infected by these diseases, and prompted for more research into its medicinal possibilities.

For approximately three-thousand years, smallpox has ravaged and plagued the four corners of the globe. In fact, in the 17 th and 18 th centuries, it was claimed to be the most infectious disease in the West, with an astounding 90% mortality rate in America. It wasn't until 1796, with English surgeon Edward Jenner's smallpox vaccination, that the world saw relief from this devastating virus. However, even with this inoculation in use, the world continued to witness death from both the virus and the vaccine. In the year 1966, it was estimated that 10-15 million infected citizens world wide had passed away from smallpox that year alone ( “History” 12). As a result of these devastating numbers, in the following year, 1967, the World Health

As the main source of death in the United States, malignancy gets a gigantic measure of consideration from analysts and research healing centers devoted to deciding the cause and hunting down cures. Around one-portion of men and 33% of ladies will build up some kind of malignancy amid their lifetime. Confidence is vital, be that as it may, as a great many individuals are presently living disease free on account of the endeavors of scientists and the donations of individuals over the world.

Abstract Cancer “Sucks” and many individuals today are dealing with it or know someone who has dealt with it. The late president Richard Nixon declared war on cancer in 1971 and we have been fighting the battle ever since (McCarthy, 2015, paras. 16). Since the declaration many possible cures were developed and chemotherapy is the one which seems to work on almost every cancer. However, this treatment has drawbacks that are either controversial or questionable as to what degree they help with defeating cancer.

Human herpes virus 8 (HHV8) was recently discovered in the tumours called Kaposi's Sarcoma (KS). These tumours are found in people with AIDS and are otherwise very rare. KS forms purplish tumours in the skin and other tissues of some people with AIDS. It is very difficult to treat with medication. HHV8 may also cause other cancers, including certain lymphomas (lymph node cancers) associated with AIDS. The fact that these cancers are caused by a virus may explain why they tend to occur in people with AIDS when their immune systems begin to fail. The discovery also provides new hope that specific treatments for these tumours will be developed that target the

ANS: They found that chloroquine treatment did protect neuritis from becoming misshapen or damaged. It also showed that exposure to chloroquine the number of neuritis infected decreased as well.

On October fourth this year, Carl Zimmer had published an article called “Ancient Viruses Are Buried in Your DNA” for the New York Times. Stumbling across this article can easy grasp ones attention. Zimmer introduces the finding of a protein called “Hemo” that scientist have been recently researching. It is created by the fetus and the placenta that is produced from viral DNA. Researchers explain that this protein had entered our ancestors’ genomes 100 million years ago. The Hemo was reported in July that a “strange protein courses through the veins of a pregnant woman”. What made it come about? What will this alien orginated protein do? No one is completely positive as the research continues.

As the world continues to suffer from these devastating diseases, researchers continue to find alternative therapeutic ways of addressing cancer treatment. It is on this premise that various immunotherapeutic alternatives have emerged and currently garnering the greatest level of attention and already raising hope throughout the world in addressing the treatment of NSCLC. However, this can no longer be viewed as a discovery but a wave in the medicine world that began in the 20th century. Various researchers have found the importance of the role of immune systems in fighting the growth of tumor caused by cancer cells. A study by Huncharek (2000) stated that specific immune boosters are capable of eliminating preclinical cancers. In contrast, Jermal et al. (2011) found that immunotherapy is an effective approach for the treatment of tumors that have already turned into solid. Similarly, the researchers highlighted that immunotherapy can be an effective approach to the treatment of melanoma as well as renal cell cancers (Lasalvia-Prisco, 2008). However, Jemal et al. (2011) noted that immunotherapy cannot achieve much in cancer treatment due to limitation brought about by the emission of immunosuppressive cytokines and subsequent loss of antigen expressions. Recent development in research studies on the immunotherapy approach to cancer treatment continues to elicit mixed reactions among researchers of medicinal ecology (Jadad et al., 1996). However, recent development in

DNA viruses were thought to be the only viruses that could cause cancer because of their capability to incorporate their own unique genome into the host cell via the cell membrane. This action is a genetic alteration known as transformation. The function of DNA in a normal, uninfected cell is to control the development & operations of the cell. Therefore, when a DNA virus infects a normal cell, it has the ability to interrupt the usual functions of the cell and begin the process of mutation. Not all cells infected with the DNA virus will become cancerous. Tumor suppressor genes act to protect the host cell from becoming oncogenic.

An invisible organism enters your body. It penetrates into your tissues and then takes over the machinery in your own cells to make more copies of itself. This tiny infiltrator works silently, producing thousands of these clones that fill up the cell and cause it to explode. The clones mercilessly continue the process of invading, taking over and destroying cells. The result might be a minor inconvenience to you as the host, or it could result in a slow or rapid death. It depends only on which variant of this unwanted infiltrator overcomes your body’s defenses. There are cures to wipe out some types of these invisible intruders, but others are so difficult to eradicate or so readily adaptable, that the world’s greatest scientists

CRISPR loci are first identified in archaea and bacteria when they systematically drew attention from scientists with their biological function to fight phages and viruses (Hsu, Lander, Zhang, 2014). Structurally, a clustered set of Cas (CRISPR-associated) genes and a unique CRISPR array constitute the CRISPR loci. The CRISPR array was further comprised of short repetitive sequence interspaced by distinctive sequences (spacers) in correspondence with exogenous genetic bits (protospacer). The natural CRISPR systems in bacteria and archaea carried out their adaptive antiviral immunity by following a three-step mechanism, namely acquisition of spacers, crRNA biogenesis, and interference.